My family is thinking of making a long weekend in December where we would go in and see Moses and do a few other things. Our biggest excuse is that we can zoom down from Jeff City for the day and come on back home without much trouble - so why bother staying/going into town. We only really go to "Branson" because of SDC.

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Back on topic. I think who(m)ever brought up the replacement for World Fest as the "draw" for 2017 probably hit the nail on the head.

Thanks, Swoosh; that was me. It was all I could think of, 'cause they've done that before during an "off" year - focused on new shows/fests/etc. And they've gotta come up with something REALLY good to replace World Fest, because I'm very, very unhappy with that going away (and I know many others are, too, based on vids from Youtube and comments on FB).

In all honesty my hunch is that the "replacement" festival will simply be a reshuffling or expansion of the existing ones. Probably either the Southern Gospel or Bluegrass and BBQ festival. But more than likely the latter since it has gotten very popular considering they expanded it to cover the whole month of May instead of just a couple weeks like in years past.

So, Six Flags St. Louis is starting its Christmas festival this year. And now Worlds of Fun has announced its two new flat rides for next year as well as its own Christmas festival and a renovated front gate.

It'll be interesting to see what SDC has to offer for 2017.

I would not be satisfied with an expansion of an existing fest to replace World Fest. Getting rid of World Fest is the first thing SDC has done that has actually made me angry.

This is exactly what we all pointed out when the "new" tree debuted. They could have done so much better, even back then. They are getting rapid passed up on this front, so perhaps some of the infrastructure improvements will help them with electrical capacity and new displays.

If you seriously think that SDC is worried about the Christmas Festival being "passed up" your crazy. Have you seen those crowds the last few years?!?

Nothing crazy about it, it's business. You always have to be on the watch for the big new thing. How much of that crowd is going to be diverted to WOF and SFStL as their events really start to get off the ground?

SDC will always have the best Christmas event hands down, but that doesn't mean they can ignore competition.

If you seriously think that SDC is worried about the Christmas Festival being "passed up" your crazy. Have you seen those crowds the last few years?!?

Nothing crazy about it, it's business. You always have to be on the watch for the big new thing. How much of that crowd is going to be diverted to WOF and SFStL as their events really start to get off the ground?

SDC will always have the best Christmas event hands down, but that doesn't mean they can ignore competition.

Agree with Shave. I have already heard some of my friends say they are skipping this year and going to try out SFSL. SDC has rested on its laurels the last few years now with Christmas and maybe this will lite a fire to upgrade some of the attractions.

I can't speak for locals to KC or Stl would have longer travels to SDC....but I know there still is a lot of families closer to Branson and from NWA, Tulsa who would never pass SDC christmas for a trip to either of those parks.

Plus....I just have a hard time seeing either of those parks being able to match the 'Christmas Spirit' that SDC creates. This may be a great thing for us SDC fans to help trim down some of massive crowds they usually have nightly during the season. It should be interesting to see if there is any impact on attendance.

I still often wonder why SDC doesn't focus on new indoor attractions to help with capacity during weather and something to possible turn into a seasonal attraction for Christmas.